More new faces and a wave of optimism

31 July 2024

August means hockey makes a welcome return

It’s the end of July and that can only mean one thing – hockey is almost back. On Aug. 1, the Dragons will assemble to start their pre-season prep. Ahead of 2024/25, Mikhail Kravets and his players are full of confidence. Pre-season has brought some exciting new acquisitions – including three in the past few days. There’s a head coach at the helm with a wealth of experience, but also vital continuity on and off the ice.

Behind the bench, last season’s head coach Viktors Ignatjevs continues as an assistant – what better way to get the new head up to full speed? And, on the ice, most of last season’s leading players are back for more, with forward Devin Brosseau probably the most significant loss. So, before our guys go through that gruelling medical check, let’s check out the latest news.

Three new signings

In a summer of exciting new arrivals, the Dragons saved some big hitters for the end of close season. Three more forwards put pen to paper, and each of them has something special to offer.

Center Rourke Chartier was the one to make the most noise. Last term he started as a regular for the Senators and finished with a career high 37 NHL games in the season. For many in North America it was a surprise that he was tempted to cross the ocean rather than seek another NHL gig, but we all know how special the KRS project is.

And Chartier, 28, has made an impact already. Following his arrival, we noticed a surge in followers on our socials. Maybe that’s not surprising. Rourke was making a good impression as a regular with the Sens until he took an upper-body injury at the worst possible time. Days after that knock, Ottawa fired its head coach – the same guy who believed Chartier had what it took. Fit again, opportunities were limited and at the end of the season he took the plunge and agreed to join us. While his NHL numbers are not immediately impressive, it’s worth remembering that much of his game time for the Senators was on the fourth line, doing the dirty work and eating up minutes. In the AHL, though, he had a more attacking brief and produced 148 points through 241 games in eight years.

Fellow newcomer Danny O’Regan is another player noted for his playmaking props as a centerman. The 30-year-old was born in Berlin, where dad Tom was playing in the DEL, but learned the game in the USA. He later helped the Americans to World U18 gold in 2012, collected NCAA honors with Boston University and made his NHL debut after he was drafted by San Jose. He also saw plenty of AHL action through seven seasons, putting up 304 points in 400 games. With a couple more inches or a few more pounds, Danny might well have cracked the NHL, but ultimately he opted to move to Europe. Last season saw him in Sweden playing for MoDo. Superficially, his stats might look modest, but keep in mind that this was a newly-promoted team battling to stay in the Swedish top flight and it’s clear that O’Regan played a big part in avoiding relegation.

The third signing of the past fortnight is well known to KRS followers. Slovak international Tomas Jurco holds the club PPG record after putting up 25 (10+15) in 32 games during his first spell in the Dragons’ Lair in 2022/23. The Olympic bronze medallist has also represented Barys and, last season, Avangard in the KHL. Earlier in his career, the 31-year-old winger made 221 appearances in the NHL for Detroit, Chicago, Edmonton and Vegas.

Expectations are up

Those three captures bring us up to 12 new faces for the 2024/25 season, plus a new head coach in Mikhail Kravets. And even before they were confirmed, our new-look roster got a thumbs-up from KHL TV commentators Artyom Bozhko and Kirill Kornilov. Writing on khl.ru they rated the new-look Dragons as “probably the biggest surprise of the off season” and felt that the incoming players largely represented an upgrade on what we had before, offering some of the roster depth that has let us down in previous campaigns.

Specifically, Kornilov picked out defenseman Adam Clendenning as a key signing (admittedly, this was before the addition of Chartier, which has added to the excitement around the team). The journalist was encouraged by the way the American adapted in Finland last season during his first season playing in Europe and facing the stricter approach of our officials. “He’s a quality D-man,” Kornilov said. “He play a lot of minutes, he has a good shot and he finishes his hits.”

Colleague Bozhko was reluctant to make a prediction, but said: “Kunlun has the potential to surprise us. An experienced coach can make a strong, competitive team out of these players. I’m sure Kunlun will not be an outsider.” Kornilov pointed out that last season we missed the playoffs by just one place despite a killer schedule that left the team exhausted at times. Without the same challenges this term, he expects Red Star to, at the very least, make a serious bid for a post-season spot.